April 06, 2016

"Words and Wine" is a monthly event held on the First Tuesday of each month at the Kona Stories Bookstore located in the Keauhou Shopping Center in Kailua-Kona (the west side of our island) where the public can come to meet and support local writers while having fun.

Photo above: My fellow presenters, Richard G. Diedricks and his wife on left - Bill Helbing and Cathy Hammond on right. Sitting next to Bill is Renée Robinson, who wears two hats...one as publisher of Bill's book as well as being my editor with Ke Ola Magazine.

Joy & Brenda, owners of the store, host a lovely table of appetizers and wine during the event. Chairs are arranged facing the back of the store and each author is given a small table towards the front where they can place their books and sign them for any attendee interested....After all the authors finish their presentation, everyone has a chance to mingle, talk, and get books signed.

A view of the attendees. When everyone settles, we counted about 54 people. It was a very receptive and fun crowd!

Photo above: Kona Stories co-owner Joy introducing the authors

Photo above: Signing copies of my "From Soup to Nuts" Cookbook

There was a lovely young lady attending who sat next to my table and had me sign a book for her and wrote me a little note saying "Your freezing tips are worth the price of the book alone!"...later I found out this lovely young lady, who barely looks like she is out of her teens, was Tiffany Chow, a University of Toronto and Baycrest neurologist, neuroscientist, educator and author of the book "The Memory Clinic."

Mahalo for the opportunity to present my book to your readers, Brenda & Joy! We had a wonderful evening!

December 31, 2015

The year started nice and easy...and continuing to write on my cookbook project (two and half years and seemed to not be getting anywhere)

I don't make New Year's resolutions any longer...hate to break them but invariably, I do...instead I made up my mind to slow down the pace..., I gave up a few self imposed duties and cut back on actively organizing cooking contests and participating as a judge in cooking event... Not all of them in one swell foop, but it was a start...

* One can only see clearlyWhen one is going slowlyQuick motion creates a life-blur.~Terri Guillemets

In February we mostly worked in the garden and attended a 'get-your-hands-in the-dirt' class on planting veggies in Tabletop Salad Garden Boxes...

Click on the highlighted link to read about this project and links to the complete list of my 'Home Farming Project' articles.

Meantime I continued to write on the cookbook, cleaning, editing and having friends read and re-read to help me clean it up and make it better...and then March brought more gardening and FINALLY time to choose a cover for my cookbook!

The publisher held a little contest where he showed several photos representing recipes in the cookbook... It was so much fun to see people voting for their preferences...and finally, front and back covers were chosen...

To my complete surprise, the news of my to be published new cookbook seemed to spark a little flurry of orders for my original "Tropical Taste" cookbook, and that was fun!

Finally the day of publishing was here and we had lots and lots of pre-orders to fulfill... a cookbook signing marathon!

The cookbook was reviewed by several people on Amazon, a very nice review by Linda Cicero in the Miami Herald and one in the Ke Ola Magazine - there was also one in an issue of Patricia Rain's (The Vanilla Queen) The Vanilla Company's newsletter in October, but the link to the article and recipes she reviewed is broken...the book was also mentioned in an article in the West Hawai'i Today, but to date I haven't been able to locate a copy.

Then came the in-store cookbook signings...that has been so much fun!

Also during June, my sister Sandra came to visit and childhood friends of ours came with her... We celebrated my birthday with a fun lu'au at Lele'iwi Beach Park with my sister and our friends, Ana & Jimmy Perez from Miami

Anthony, Sandra, Ana, Jimmy & I also did a tour around the island during their visit...Sandra stayed for about 3 weeks and we had time to show her a few more hidden places around the island and picnic a couple of times...

With the help of my sister - and the kick in the pants she gave me - we got "the office" organized and in the "pursuit of organization" was able to finally tackle the piles of magazines and newspapers containing my columns and articles, plus stuff I wanted to save in a 'scrapbook' and managed to sort, clip, and reduce several piles and boxes full into a few three-ring binders!

Through the year I also started going through closets and drawers, bookcases and boxes and gave away several boxes filled with a lot of stuff through Freecycle and also sold a few items through a page I set up for my (fabulous) yard sale on Facebook...This worked out to be a lot of fun and even people from the mainland were bidding for items!

During all this time I also received visits from a childhood friend from Cuba I hadn't seen in about 60 years and from Georgia cousins I hadn't seen in a while...

All during the year and with partners, I also got involved in starting a new business...The name of it Orchid Isle Traders and we're "Purveyors of Hawai'i island Grown Spices, Comestibles & Imports"... we're working on a website, but meantime we can be found in Facebook under Orchid Isle Traders

The plans for it started early in 2015 but we finally did a soft launching in October, testing the waters at the 3rd Annual Liliko'i Festival, with my son Anthony and my business partner Kevan handling the booth as I was again involved in organizing and directing the cooking contest for the event. Later we participated in the Christmas in the Country event at the Hilo Coffee Mill, the Full Moon Boutique Event in Leilani Estates, the Christmas Craft & Holiday Fair in Waimea and the Christmas Day Parade Craft Fair in Kee'au.

Other products we sell are local dried fruit and mixes, beautiful Maui sugar infused with vanilla beans, kitchen / gardening handcrafted soaps as well as a luscious complexion soap; our offerings at the moment include 3 cookbook titles: my own "Tropical Taste" and "From Soup to Nuts" as well as the beautiful "A Cook's Journey to Japan" - 100 Homestyle Recipes from Japanese Kitchens. We're looking for more island-grown products and our list of products is growing fast!

Our inventory is expanding to also provide mini porcelain mortar & pestles, appropriate for grinding your own spices as well as nutmeg graters and other useful kitchen type tools. Eventually we hope to expand to tableware and linens.

Our last event of the year was a lovely afternoon picnic with our friends Brenda, Kevan & Galyn, at the little park nestled between Hilo Bay, Lihiwai Street and the Liliuokalani Park in Hilo...we also got to see our friends Liz & Mike, who dropped by for a few minutes.

Today ends a very eventful and fun year... and tomorrow starts what I hope will be a very happy and prosperous one!

August 08, 2015

Honoka'a is a lively little town at any time, but Mamane Street (the main thoroughfare through town) certainly jumps on First Fridays!

I was invited to attend First Friday yesterday afternoon and evening by Edie Bikle, owner of Taro Patch Gifts to talk story with people walking by and to sign copies of my new "From Soup to Nuts" cookbook.

Lots of people of all ages milling around; food and craft vendors setting up tents on the side of the street and the aromas of all the food mixed in the air making my tummy growl.

We set up a small table covered with a Hawaiian fabric picnic quilt made for me by my sister and scattered a few of my FSTN cookbooks as well as copies of my original Tropical Taste cookbook ((c) 2001, (... and still selling!)

Edie had an announcement posted on a window sometime beforehand to let all who passed by be aware of my visit...That was so nice, Edie, Mahalo!

We set up my table right outside a window showing copies of my cookbook that the store had for sale.

I have no photos of me talking story with those who stopped by, but I did get to see a lot of people I knew and we did sell a few cookbooks!

The most amusing note of the event...spotting someone who had bought a signed copy earlier, ignoring the milling people around her while walking and reading the cookbook and her husband resignedly rolled his eyes...

...and here is a shot of Edie peeking out her window holding a copy of FSTN...

Mahalo nui, Edie...it was fun!

If interested in getting copies of "From Soup to Nuts", Edie has a few in the store plus you can find copies through theLarry Czerwonka Publishing Coand on Amazonor through me...

Copies of Tropical Taste are also available through Amazon (although some vendors on Amazon are asking ridiculous prices for used copies of my TT cookbook, you can get NEW ones, signed, through me (cubanwahine) for $10 plus shipping.

July 12, 2015

With the recent publishing of my new cookbook, "From Soup to Nuts", my first little cookbook is receiving a bit of renewed attention.

For those who might not be aware, back in 2001 I self-published a cookbook - small in size but large in scope - with 132 recipes packed into 128 pages!

"Tropical Taste" is a collection of almost 3 years worth of monthly articles with recipes, from a culinary column by the same name which are published in The Hamakua Times newspaper of Honoka’a, Hawai'i. I have been writing monthly articles for them since Spring 1999.

The book features information and recipes using many exotic tropical fruits and vegetables, many of them (if not all) are available in most mainland market produce departments or in Asian markets, making this book an ideal gift or souvenir for visitors to take home.

The columns were revised and updated for the book at the time of printing. This is a second printing (first printing of 1000 books sold out in 4 months mostly to family, friends and cookbook collectors!)

The funny thing is that there are some people on Amazon selling my modest little cookbook (no photos except for front and back covers) anywhere from $10 (my offerings under the name cubanwahine) up to $97.65 by someone else!!! Needless to say, I was shocked (and gratified) to think anyone would consider my cookbook was worth that much!

Here is a sample 'taste' from Tropical Taste

Hawaiian Sweet Potato Ali'i (page 29)

I have lived in Georgia and the Carolinas for many years. This is my local version of the traditional sweet potato or southern yam soufflé.

4 cups cooked and mashed purple sweet potatoes

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

3 Tablespoons melted butter

Combine all above ingredients and beat at medium speed with a hand mixer or in a food processor until smooth. You will notice something weird; the eggs will make the purple sweet potatoes turn green at first. Don't let this throw you..., it will turn purple again as you continue to mix. Pour into a buttered 11 x 7 x 1-1/2 baking dish. Set aside.

Topping:

3 Tablespoons melted or softened butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup chopped and roasted unsalted macadamia nuts

1 cup flaked coconut

Combine all above ingredients, stirring with a fork; sprinkle over sweet potato mixture. Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes.

July 01, 2015

A lot has been happening lately and I am way behind on blog postings; my sister and friends visiting from the mainland... showing them the sights around the island... celebrating my 78th birthday, and a lot more. I will maybe condense some of the happenings since their arrival in a future post.

For now, I will blog about the latest event and then work my way back in time ;-)

When the publisher The Larry Czerwonka Publishing Co., announced the date when my "From Soup to Nuts" cookbook would be released, the owners of the Hilo Coffee Mill in Mountain View wanted to know how they could get copies to sell at their shop and when could they schedule a book signing.

The Mill suggested a Tuesday because there is a cruise ship that stops in Hilo on that day every week and the Mill is a popular stopping place for small tour buses loaded with ship visitors going up to the Volcano. We agreed on June 30th and that was yesterday!

Before the visitors started arriving in droves, we were talking coffee and of course, how to make a good cup of Cuban coffee came up...My sister Sandra and I explained how to make an espresso with 'espumita', the sugar foam that floats to the top...The barista got it right on the first try!

Ooooooh....delicioso!

I prepared the Black Bean & Corn Salsa or Dip (page 68) for tasting. Everyone seemed to like it...or at least said they did and some even did eye-rolls. Ha! in the photo above, Juanette is sampling the salsa.

Galyn dropped by for a while and brought me a beautiful ti leaf and white orchid lei...Mahalo, Galyn!

My sister Sandra is here visiting from Miami for a few weeks...she was a big help to me and took the photos shared in this post, except for this one, which was taken by Galyn Williams...and it shows a little bit of our two hostesses for the day, Kathy and Jeanette, in the background.

Several local people came to get copies of the book...some I knew and some I met for the first time. Several copies of my cookbook will find their way to Australia and a couple will be going to Colorado...unfortunately, we did not get photos of everyone!

Mahalo to all who contributed to make my first signing of my second cookbook a big success and Mahalo Nui Loa to Kathy & Jeanette of the Hilo Coffee Mill for the opportunity to share my cookbook with others!

Here is a an excerpt from a beautiful review shared yesterday on Amazon:

From Richard Frisbie: What I liked most about “From Soup To Nuts” was the engaging warmth of the writing and the clarity of the recipes and advice. It reads as if a good friend who just happens to be a passionate experienced cook is walking you through the meal literally from soup to nuts, or beginning to end, including beverages. You’ll learn what to buy, how to cook it and what to do with the leftovers all by following her simple recipes.

To read the entire review as well as all the others, please click HERE

and if you have a copy of the book and would not mind sharing a review, please leave one on Amazon!

If you're interested in getting a copy - or two (or three!) - the Mill has a few copies left, already signed by me.

May 23, 2015

The original recipe came to me via the Cuban Food Market newsletter. The first time, I made it as they wrote it . The second time and since, I've changed it quite a bit. I find my version is quite delicious!

Black Bean and Corn Salsa or Dip

The secret of this one is the citrus and cumin...Fun to take to potlucks!

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cans kernel corn, drained

1 large chopped red bell pepper

4 - 5 small chopped Hawaiian chile peppers

2/3 cup lime or calamondin juice *

1 small bunch chopped parsley, watercress, or cilantro

1 small bunch chopped green onions, some of the green added

Garlic infused olive oil, to taste

1 - 2 teaspoons Badia Tropical Seasoning (no MSG) or to taste

2 teaspoons slightly heaped ground cumin, or to taste

Since we don;t care much for cilantro and my son cannot eat it, I use parsley or watercress, instead. You can add ripe diced avocado or tomatoes if you wish.

We serve them with little star bowl shaped corn tortillas for scooping.

Any leftovers can be used for lunch, wrapped in warm flour tortillas with melted cheese and served with a dollop of sour cream or Crème Fraîche

Yield: Enough for a small crowd and probably have leftovers.

Source: my new cookbook "From Soup to Nuts" page 68

You can order copies of my "From Soup to Nuts" Cookbook by clicking on the links below

Through the publisher The Larry Czerwonka Company:

Shipping is included in the price and there is an option for signed copies

May 15, 2015

The long awaited day (for me, anyway) has arrived! My brand-new-hot-off-the-press cookbook is finally available!

It is called "From Soup To Nuts" since that is what kept running through my head as I kept thinking up all sorts of titles... it has a little bit of everything in it and runs from soup to nuts, so what else would it be called?

Here is the front cover...the publisher held a cover contest and this was the 2nd runner in the contest, but when we received our first actual galley proof copies, all but two people asked preferred this one...so this one it is!

and here is the back cover with a explanation of what from soup to nuts means

Whether you pre-ordered from the publisher or will order from Amazon or any of the other book outlets, on-line or an actual bookstore, I most humbly request you write a review for it at Amazon or any of the places on-line the cookbook can be found!

April 24, 2015

At this time of much excitement and anticipation (on my part) due to my soon-to-be-published cookbook "From Soup to Nuts", it is heartwarming and, yes, very gratifying, to see my original little cookbook effort, "Tropical Taste"(c) 2001, is still selling (and receiving 5 star reviews) after so many years!

"Tropical Taste" is a collection of three years worth of articles with recipes originally published in the Hamakua Times newspaper of Honoka'a.

Those articles were my very first attempt at food writing and the story behind it is kind of funny.

In early 1999 my son was reading a small monthly newspaper published in a nearby town and noticed they did not have a food column, so he called the publisher and asked if they would like to have someone write regular food columns for them. The publisher replied that they would love it, but could not afford to pay a columnist, but they would be glad to promote our business (the Inn/B&B/ cooking school we owned at the time)...next thing I knew, my son was telling me I had to write articles about food for a newspaper...

Mind you, the only writing I had done up till then was putting together a newsletter for my previous business on the mainland and another for our little Village Association.

After picking my jaw off the floor and getting a bit more feedback from him, I decided to write about what I knew best and that was tropical fruits (I was born in Cuba where I grew up with many of the same fruits we have in Hawai'i) and I chose the guava for the first article.

The first article appeared in the May 1999 issue of the newspaper and except for a couple of small breaks, I have been writing monthly articles for the Hamakua Times ever since!

The title of the first article was Stalking the Wild Guava - Part I and the recipes included were Guava Shells in Syrup, Guava Marmalade and Uses for Thin Guava Marmalade.

The next month's article was Stalking the Wild Guava - Part II and included Frozen Guava Mousse and Guava Upside-Down Cake.

In subsequent months I wrote about mangoes then avocadoes, chayote, and carambolas (starfruit), and as I gained more confidence and started hearing back from readers I started venturing into learning more and sharing what I was learning about fruits and veggies with uses that were fairly new-to-me; liliko'i (passion fruit) 'ulu (breadfruit), macadamia nuts, taro... and here I still am!

To read the last 8 years worth of Tropical Taste articles in the Hamakua Times, click on:

Pre-Orders are for U.S. only - International orders available after April 15th

Signed copies:

This is for all who are requesting signed copies of the cookbook. The books are being printed on the mainland and all orders will be shipped from a fulfillment center on the mainland. If you want a signed copy, it is a bit more expensive than buying direct because the books will have to be shipped to me first and it will cost me to ship it to you. The publisher has set up a separate Pre-order form for those wanting the cookbook signed.... OR if you live on the island, you can get your copy signed at the time of the local bookstore book signing events...or when we run into each other around the island!

May 05, 2012

Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School in Pū‘āla‘a, Lower Puna on the Big Island of Hawai'i (Hawai'i Island) recently published their own cookbook titled 'Ike 'Aina: From the Seed to the Table - Cooking with locally grown foods.

An enticing cookbook full of mouth-watering recipes, this cookbook will certainly grab your attention. The cookbook is filled with recipes prepared by Culinary Instructor Mariposa Blanco and the 'Aina Life Culinary Arts Program students using only locally grown and sourced fresh produce and local foods of our islands.

Delicious ways to use breadfruit, taro, coconuts, guavas, mangos and many other tropical produce and fruits. From homemade coconut oil mayonnaise, juice extracts from ginger and 'olena (turmeric) to their award winning breadfruit tamales. No rice, butter or wheat based products make an appearance in this little gem.

The book is written in both Hawaiian and English, filled with beautiful full color photographs of the students from kindergarten keiki to seniors planting, tending, harvesting and cooking with the very vegetables and fruits mentioned in the recipes.

The cookbook begins with an ancient Hawaiian prayer used as a chant for opening new gardens to grow food. Early Hawaiians fed themselves with only what they could grow, forage in the forests and gather from the sea. There were no imports until the rest of the world learned about the islands.

'Ike 'Aina means to know the land. The school has a garden, plants in containers and a grow-house where several crops are growing vertically to save space. They are learning to know the land!

The curriculum of the school includes an agricultural experience where all of the kids get to participate: from seed to table, and the book reflects it. Every Friday, the culinary arts class students and their instructor, Mariposa, feed a healthy snack to the elementary school students and then a sit-down lunch to staff and invited guests. I have been fortunate to have been invited to several of these lunches.

Their award winning 'Ulu Tamales recipe can be found on page 56 - and in a post I made on September 25th, 2011